Emma Burbidge

Emma Burbidge is the marketing assistant at TCHC. She helps to manage the website and promote the Youth Contract. She enjoys writing for the blog and sharing advice and tips with young people on a range of topics, from finding a job to battling with depression.

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An eating disorder is both a physical and psychological illness which results in an obsessive relationship with food, either through over-eating or under-eating. How do you know if you have an eating disorder and how do you deal with it if you have one?

Your boyfriend/girlfriend might seem like the most important person in the world and you might think that you are ready and know each other well enough to devote your entire life to them or bringing up a family. The reality is that these life decisions need to be considered rationally, not just emotionally.

During a recent trip to Morocco I encountered a number of small kids surviving on nothing, begging on street corners in Marrakesh or selling hand-made wooden camels on the side of the road, even in very remote places.

This has reminded me of how lucky we are to live in a country where we have access to health care when we get sick, can get help if we end up on the streets or can’t pay the bills, and where we have the opportunity of a free education, something which many of us take for granted.

With the world in financial meltdown, it is easy to think that getting a job in the future will be extremely difficult. But our generation has just as much reason to be optimistic about the future as anyone else. We are millennials, a term used to describe young people who were born between 1980 and 2000 and brought up in the Digital Age.

Social media is a great way to keep up with distant friends, share photos and articles with people and interact with others. It has been influential in revolutions in the Middle East, has brought a new dimension to media and keeping up to date with current events, and is increasingly being used to find jobs. However, people still make the mistake of forgetting that the internet is a public space and have landed themselves in hot water as a result.

Confidence is tricky; particularly when other people are doing you down, you have low self-esteem or haven’t formed a very high opinion of yourself.

I never had enough confidence as a child, and this bred a shy girl, always hidden within a shell to protect myself from the criticism and opinions of others, wilting in the shadow of social and parental expectation. If your experiences are similar to mine, then I would like to tell you about the wonder that just having confidence can bring.

Why should you budget?

Whether you are living with parents or in your own housing, it is important to learn how to budget in order to keep on top of finances. It is one thing that all adults must learn to do, some of you may already be doing it. It is particularly important if you already have to look after someone else, such as a baby.

Although the legal age to purchase alcohol is 18, statistics show that few young people wait that long to start drinking. By the age of 15, 80 per cent have already tried alcohol, so perhaps you have started drinking too.

When it comes to choices about what career to follow, this can often be a difficult thing to do. The decisions we make when we are 16 and 17 years old can affect the rest of our lives, so it is important to think long and hard about the type of work you might enjoy and what steps you are going to take to get there.

I was brought up believing that to be successful I needed to be clever and achieve good grades at school. For some people academic success might be important, but it is not for everyone. Success means different things to different people.